Large banks can “behind the curve” of AI, allowing smaller startups to make riskier bets

Craig Corte, global head of digital, data and coverage platforms for Standard Chartered’s business and investment banks, said it’s fine if employers decide to become “good followers” of AI given the risks associated with major financial institutions being ruined.

“I don’t think we should be at the forefront of innovation around AI as a big bank. It’s a dangerous place and there are many other organizations and industries out there,” Corte told the AI Singapore Conference last week. “I think we can afford to fall a little behind the curve.”

Tianyi Zhang, general manager of risk management and cybersecurity at ANT International, pointed out three risks that AI poses: (Ant International is a partner of the Fortune Brainstorm Ai Singapore.) First, its preference for AI to make up for things or to make up for “hagaze.” The second is the possibility that various AI agents work directly with each other, opening up new means of external attacks. The third is a deepfake that includes the possibility that a fake customer will be generated as an attack vector.

Still, Zhang said it provides examples of how AI can make some of the work easier and increase the skills of entry-level financial investigators.

Bank customers are also thinking about whether they trust AI. Vivien Jong, Asia’s Chief Digital and AI Officer at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, noted that younger clients are embracing AI for their speed and transparency. “They want to use AI to look for theme investments in sustainability and technology,” she said. However, older customers are more cautious and view new technologies as “a support tool and not an investment tool.”

Big vs. Small

Corte and Zhang were part of a panel exploring how AI is set up to transform the financial industry. One important question was what institutions would benefit most from AI.

Larger established players previously were slow to adopt new technology and often paid the price because they were hesitant. However, this time, large companies are far more eager to adopt AI.

“For us during the first digital revolution, it was a gathering of outsiders and small businesses trying to convince the big incumbent players that they needed to digitalize their business,” Corte said.

But unlike previous instances of digital transformation, where bigger, established players struggled to catch up, this time the bigger banks want to adopt new technology.

“For us during the first digital revolution, it was a gathering of outsiders and small businesses trying to convince the big incumbent players that they needed to digitalize their business,” Corte said. “It’s completely reversed today. The world’s biggest players with the most customers and the largest balance sheet are those driving the AI agenda.”

Meanwhile, small startups can struggle with the long-term perspective and long documentation needed to work with larger banks. John, from BNP Paribas, shared her own struggles regarding working with small startups, including “I went offline because I wasn’t paid for two weeks.” One hangup was the scale of the BNP contract. John said one startup was very worried about the 60-page master service agreement, and that it would work for free for six months.

Zhang from Ant approached a conversation of size from another vantage point: Ant’s customers.

“Some of our clients are… very small. They could be a couple. The couple operates an online store in a one-bedroom apartment,” Zhang said. Typically, these small customers will have a hard time dealing with all the different risks associated with running a small business. But “With the help of AI, they have access to all new technologies, new tools to deal with automated payments. They can deal with conflict solutions, risk management solutions, and can collect money from different currencies to deal with the volatility of Forex,” he said.

agent

Michael Wu, CEO of Crypto Firm Amber Group and speaker of last week’s panel, is all-in on how AI can shake up the financial sector. Amber is currently pursuing “Agentfi” or finances driven by AI agents who can make their own decisions. (Disclosure: Fortune owner Chacha Bulji Arabanon is an investor in the Amber Group.

Wu noted that AI agents currently do not have the financial resources to carry out the actions they have decided to take. “An agent can’t have the autonomy of saying, ‘Hey, do you want to spend this amount, or invest in anything else,'” he said.

The Crypto, which Wu claims, gives AI agents “economic freedom” and gives them the resources to put their decisions behind them. “They could even hire humans to do what they wanted,” he suggested.

Amber launched AI in May, calling the first “agent” “Mia” to serve as the group’s “Agentfi Ambassador.” “My best analogy is (Mia) is a very bright and young superintern,” Wu said. “She can do some amazing things. She still makes a lot of mistakes, and sometimes she’s very stupid and acts ahead of time.”

WU engineers have given MIA the ability to manage the liquidity of their own tokens. However, Wu noted that he has a hard time explaining what financial behaviour the agents are taking on social media. “It happens to humans too. Right? Sometimes we learn something new very quickly and our left or right brain doesn’t realize what the other half is doing.”

“Hopefully next year, many of these engineering issues will be discovered, identified and potentially resolved by these agents themselves,” he added.